Gavin W. Stewart

A Mild and Efficient One-Pot Synthesis of 2-Aminated Benzoxazoles and Benzothiazoles

Previous syntheses of the biologically active 2-aminated benzoxazoles have relied on forcing thermal conditions to generate the products directly from the corresponding thiols. The resulting yields have ranged from moderate to poor. A mild and high-yielding alternative one-pot chlorination-amination procedure is described. Compounds with a variety of substitution patterns are reported and the methodology has been successfully extended to benzothiazoles. Palladium catalysis on suitably activated examples has been employed to generate the desired compounds of interest.

Synthesis of Bis-Macrocyclic HCV Protease Inhibitor MK-6325 via Intramolecular sp2–sp3 Suzuki–Miyaura Coupling and Ring Closing Metathesis

A practical asymmetric synthesis of the complex fused bis-macrocyclic HCV protease inhibitor MK-6325 (1) is described. Through the combination of a high yielding and low catalyst loading ring-closing metathesis (RCM) to forge the 15-membered macrocycle with an intramolecular sp(2)-sp(3) Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling to append the 18-membered macrocycle, multikilogram access to the unique and challenging architecture of MK-6325 (1) has been achieved.

Enantioselective synthesis of β-aryloxycarboxylic esters via asymmetric hydrogenation of β-aryloxy-α,β-unsaturated esters.

A novel synthesis of β-aryloxycarboxylic esters via asymmetric hydrogenation of the corresponding β-aryloxy-α,β-unsaturated esters has been demonstrated. Bis(norbornadiene)rhodium(I) tetrafluoroborate (1 mol %) and Walphos W008-1 were used to generate the saturated products with high enantioselectivity and in high yield. The tolerability of the reaction to a diverse range of substituents on the aromatic ring was also explored.